On Target July 2013

July 2013

The U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility

Small Supercomputer Makes Big List

The 12K supercomputer at Jefferson Lab was listed as a TOP500 Supercomputer Site on June 17, placing 364th. The machine resides in this set of five racks that it shares with a sister computer built at about the same time in 2012.

Jefferson Lab's newest supercomputer doesn't look like the giants in its field, but the relatively diminutive machine has claimed a spot on the TOP500 Supercomputer Sites list as it calculates the behavior of the smallest bits of matter.

A visitor to Jefferson Lab's climate-controlled computing room in CEBAF Center would be hard pressed to point out the supercomputer. The machine is built into a set of five racks that it shares with a sister computer built at about the same time last year. Between them, the two machines occupy just over half the space in the racks.

According to Jie Chen, a senior computer scientist in the Scientific Computing group, the machine gets its supercomputing horsepower from graphics processing units, or GPUs.

"If you look at all the others on the list around us, they are regular Intel Xeon clusters. They probably have ten-times higher number of CPUs, the boxes, than us. But each CPU, they don't have that peak performance," Chen explains....... more

It was a year worth celebrating.
On July 3, Document Control Group (DCG) and Management Information Systems (MIS) staff gathered to celebrate the first anniversary of their “saving the green” program....... more

Dr. Ernest Moniz was sworn in as the nation’s 13th Secretary of Energy by Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman in a ceremony at DOE Headquarters on May 21. Moniz was confirmed by the full Senate in a vote of 97-0 on May 16..... more

Small Supercomputer Makes Big List

Members of Jefferson Lab's Scientific Computing group who contributed to the work on the supercomputers include (standing, left to right) Ying Chen, Jie Chen, Chris Hewitt, Chris Larrieu, Kurt Strosahl, David Rackley and Sandy Philpott, and (kneeling, l.-r.) Chip Watson and Balint Joo.

Jefferson Lab's newest supercomputer doesn't look like the giants in its field, but the relatively diminutive machine has claimed a spot on the TOP500 Supercomputer Sites list as it calculates the behavior of the smallest bits of matter.

A visitor to Jefferson Lab's climate-controlled computing room in CEBAF Center would be hard pressed to point out the supercomputer. The machine is built into a set of five racks that it shares with a sister computer built at about the same time last year. Between them, the two machines occupy just over half the space in the racks.

According to Jie Chen, a senior computer scientist in the Scientific Computing group, the machine gets its supercomputing horsepower from graphics processing units, or GPUs.

"If you look at all the others on the list around us, they are regular Intel Xeon clusters. They probably have ten-times higher number of CPUs, the boxes, than us. But each CPU, they don't have that peak performance," Chen explains.

Like other Jefferson Lab supercomputers, 12K is a cluster machine. It's built of 42 standard-sized computing boxes. Each box houses four NVIDIA Tesla K20 GPUs, which were just released last fall. Each GPU consists of 2,496 individual processors, referred to as cores, which handle the computation. The GPUs are all connected to a host through PCI Express 2 buses, and each GPU contains 5 GB of very fast memory. All hosts are connected by the latest (FDR) Infiniband networks.

Chen says he and his colleagues began preparing the system for testing in mid-May. To be qualified for the list, each computer runs code for completing a benchmark calculation, called the LINPACK Benchmark, which solves a linear system represented by a large double precision dense matrix. Each computer is ranked according to its computation speed as determined by the LINPACK Benchmark. For the benchmark testing, 39 boxes of 12K's total 42 were used.

"The process of running the benchmark is: We take one box, we run the code of a smaller matrix, we get some parameters. Then we run four cards on one box, then we get nice parameters. Then we run two boxes, we get nice parameters. So, then we scale to four boxes, and we tune a little bit at a time, now we have a pretty good idea of what different parameters we need to use based on how big the matrix we want. And then we run, finally, 39 boxes and we just linearly scale up the matrix," Chen says.

The Scientific Computing group is no stranger to the TOP500 list. The first GPU-based supercomputer built at Jefferson Lab clocked out as the fastest computer in Hampton Roads in 2010, with about 90 percent of its computing power supplied by NVIDIA GPUs. That computer was built of first-generation science computing GPUs, while the current cluster is running the newest, third-generation units.

"It's very, very exciting to get into TOP400, no question about it. It also makes our work very exciting. We always work with bleeding-edge technology, and heterogeneous computing is the future," Chen said.

But Jefferson Lab's supercomputers aren't built to be the fastest; they're built to provide the best return-on-investment for scientists, who focus on stretching their research dollars by building systems that will give them the best bang for their buck in performing a series of difficult scientific calculations. These computers are shedding light on the building blocks of protons and neutrons, called quarks and gluons. The complex interactions of quarks and gluons are described by a complicated theory called lattice Quantum Chromodynamics, or lattice QCD. Lattice QCD is calculated by supercomputers, such as 12K.

"It's not just about making the TOP500, it's about the science," Chen explains.

A framework has been developed at Jefferson Lab specifically for performing the lattice QCD calculations on machines powered by GPUs. The framework for the theory calculations, called Chroma, is used along with a library of highly optimized routines called QUDA, which was developed primarily by NVIDIA and a larger developer community that includes Jefferson Lab. Code developers at the laboratory and NVIDIA have worked in partnership to ensure that Chroma and QUDA harness the GPUs' full capabilities for science.

With optimization, Chroma and QUDA now run a total of six times faster on the newer NIVIDIA K20 GPUs than they did when originally run on last-generation GPUs.

"This cluster accounts for the majority of computing resources for JLab lattice QCD now. And we actually get great performance," Chen says.

When compared to supercomputers built of CPUs, Chroma now runs 18 times faster on GPUs than CPUs. But that's a number that Chen expects to dwindle as Jefferson Lab developers work with others to optimize Chroma for supercomputers built of CPUs.

Chen also sees a future for GPUs in other disciplines. While nearly all of the GPUs on site are dedicated to calculating the theory of lattice QCD, the machines may one day be used to analyze data from experiments, as well.

"People are starting to realize that this computing offers benefits. If they see the benefit of faster analysis time, faster run times, they will use it," Chen says.

In the meantime, Chen and his colleagues continue to optimize 12K and its sister machine, 12M, which is a CPU-based machine built of Intel Many Integrated Core (Intel MIC) Xeon Phi coprocessors.

Jefferson Lab's cluster computer program is funded through the National Computational Infrastructure for Lattice Gauge Theory project, while the development of the software infrastructure is funded by the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing, or SciDAC program, both in the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Science. Additional funding has been provided for cluster hardware by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Supercomputer time is allocated based on the recommendations of the United States Lattice Gauge Theory Computational Program (USQCD), a consortium of top LQCD theorists in the United States that spans both high-energy physics and nuclear physics. The USQCD consortium developed the QUDA code library that is used with the Chroma code.

JSA Gets New Corporate Partner as CSC/ATD is Acquired by PAE

CSC/ATD has been the corporate partner with the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) since 2006, forming Jefferson Science Associates, LLC, the company contracted by the U.S. Department of Energy to operate and manage Jefferson Lab.

In welcoming ATD to the PAE family, PAE President Mike Dignam, said in a news release. “It [this acquisition] marks a significant step in our progress towards becoming an industry-leading service provider.”

The PAE news release was followed by a statement from Jerry P. Draayer, SURA president and CEO and vice chair of the JSA board of directors, welcoming PAE as SURA’s new JSA partner. “Through their purchase of CSC/ATG, PAE becomes the new partner joining SURA in the stewardship of [Jefferson Lab] this world-class U.S. Department of Energy laboratory.”

In a July 25 letter to SURA/JSA stakeholders, Draayer wrote: "Since SURA was informed on May 29, 2013 about this upcoming change, we have been working with officials from PAE to ensure that JSA continues its responsible stewardship of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Jefferson Lab. This includes the assurance of PAE/ATD that the commitments and obligations of the owner under CSC/AT will continue under JSA. We do not contemplate changes in Jefferson Lab operations or negative impacts to JSA’s contractual responsibilities as a result of PAE/ATD’s ownership role.

“SURA is confident this new association with PAE will continue to provide the lab with the solid support it has enjoyed under CSC’s leadership, and in addition enable JSA to bring the stability of a privately held company in support of the long-term scientific mission of the lab and the DOE,” Draayer noted.

Further, Draayer wrote: “… the JSA Board will continue to provide the responsible and effective governance structure and practices necessary for the continued management and operation of the Jefferson Lab.”

JSA plans to hold its next board meeting at JLab to provide new board members and PAE representatives the opportunity to see the lab and meet staff, according to Draayer.

PAE is a leading provider of global mission services to the U.S. Government and its allied partners. For more than 50 years, PAE has provided training, logistics, and operations and maintenance services to support complex missions for customers around the world. With the addition of ATD, PAE employs approximately 15,000 people in more than 60 countries. The company is based in Arlington, Va., according to the PAE website.

On July 3, Document Control Group (DCG) and Management Information Systems (MIS) staff gathered to celebrate the first anniversary of their “saving the green” program that included implementation of Jefferson Lab’s Electronic Document Repository and E-Sign program.

“We are all very proud of the cost and resource saving aspects of this program,” says Document Control Supervisor Bridget Paul.

In November 2012, DCG and MIS staff teamed up to develop an electronic process for signing and managing engineering documents produced at Jefferson Lab.

Their successful development and implementation of the program has allowed Jefferson Lab to reduce the amount of paper used in document control by 42 percent, and has accelerated the processing of engineering documents by 60 percent. These efforts also resulted in a 50 percent reduction in the space needed to store paper documents.

Additionally, by creating the program internally, JLab is saving on the cost of maintenance and service agreements for external software, according to Paul.

DCG Manager, Butch Dillon-Townes, says, “The realization of a paperless process has been a long time coming and the implementation was transparent, efficient, and received well by the majority of our customers. Because the program was built in-house, we have the capability to continuously improve its capabilities to better serve our customers. Furthermore, the paperless process has made a significant contribution to JLab’s environmental and sustainability efforts.”

Implementation of this pilot program has been so successful that it is now being used by the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Division, and other departments at the lab such as the Environmental Health Safety and Quality (EHS&Q) Division is evaluating the process for possible use.

Working together, the DCG and MIS team met the challenges of reducing the lab’s “carbon footprint” and providing a more sustainable document management system.

E. Moniz Sworn in as 13th Secretary of Energy

Dr. Ernest Moniz was sworn in as the nation’s 13th Secretary of Energy by Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman in a ceremony at DOE Headquarters on May 21.

Moniz was confirmed by the full Senate in a vote of 97-0 on May 16.

Following his swearing in, Moniz told employees that he was honored to be back at DOE and was looking forward to a productive tenure.

“I look forward to the progress we will make together in the coming years – advancing the President’s energy strategy, maintaining the nuclear deterrent and reducing the nuclear danger, promoting American leadership in science and clean energy technology innovation, and cleaning up the legacy of the Cold War,” said Moniz addressing DOE staff. “I believe we can, and must, commit ourselves to the highest standards of management excellence, delivering results for the American people as efficiently and effectively as possible and enhancing our capacity to succeed in our critical missions.”

That morning, Moniz received briefings by the National Nuclear Security Administration, as well as the Department’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. That afternoon, he delivered his first remarks as Secretary at the 2013 Energy Efficiency Global Forum, followed by a meeting at the White House with other Cabinet members and with the President’s senior energy and climate advisors.

Prior to his appointment, Moniz was the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was a faculty member since 1973. At MIT, he headed the Department of Physics and the Bates Linear Accelerator Center. Most recently, he served as the founding Director of the MIT Energy Initiative and of the MIT Laboratory for Energy and the Environment and was a leader of multidisciplinary technology and policy studies on the future of nuclear power, coal, nuclear fuel cycles, natural gas, and solar energy in a low-carbon world.

From 1997 until January 2001, Moniz served as Under Secretary of the Department of Energy. He was responsible for overseeing the department’s science and energy programs, leading a comprehensive review of nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship, and serving as the secretary’s special negotiator for the disposition of Russian nuclear materials. From 1995 to 1997, he served as associate director for Science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President.

Moniz received a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in physics from Boston College, and a doctorate in theoretical physics from Stanford University.

Below the Fold:

Tips to Control Spam Email and Handle Blocked Web Sites

Collaboration among peers is one of the hallmarks and underpinnings of the groundbreaking work done at Jefferson Lab. The advent of the Internet and proliferation of email spawned the ability to work in near-real time with anyone, anywhere, and especially those affiliated with universities.

Trouble is, because email is free and can be easily faked, spammers have wreaked havoc across the globe, and staying one step ahead of spammers in an effort to block them has become the bane of people like Jefferson Lab’s Computing and Networking Infrastructure Manager Andy Kowalski.

Here’s the problem, as Kowalski describes it: Essentially, spam overwhelms email inboxes. The system becomes clogged and computer account holders (users) become frustrated with slow systems and all the junk email that they get. So, Jefferson Lab, like many other businesses and institutions, turns to trusted Internet sources or vendors (such as MxLogic, McAfee, SpamCop, Spamhaus) which maintain “block lists” for the sources of spam and automatically blocks emails that are generated from the IP addresses of entities on those lists.

But raising the security filters also can wind up blocking legitimate emails, and users complain to Kowalski that they're not getting email they've been expecting.

There are two possible fixes:

The first involves contacting the system administrator at the source of the anticipated, legitimate email and letting them know that emails from their organization aren’t getting to you and that they need to clean up their system. The administrator then needs to report the cleanup to SpamCop so the email can be freed up.

But that solution is not always simple, Kowalski explained, because many universities save the money they would spend on a professional network administration and use student labor instead. Those students come – and go – which makes it difficult to contact the proper administrator and urge him or her to take care of the problem.

The other fix, of course, is to simply allow all the email from the suspect IP address to come through, which takes us back to the original problem.

This is no small issue. Jefferson Lab's system handles 30,000 incoming off-site emails each day, and Kowalski estimates that about 15 percent of them are blocked and diverted to an individual’s spam box.

Among the steps that the lab has taken to keep its own IP addresses from being blocked is to limit the number of emails any user account can send in an hour. Kowalski wishes that universities would adopt the same policy.

What's driving the spammers?

Money and illegal activities.

Businesses pay them for each time they get someone to click on their message. It's also a way to get into a computer with a 'bot that works behind the scenes (computer users rarely know they're there). The bots can then store information on a computer's hard drive rather than the business having to pay for sufficient servers for their needs, process information for data-mining and encryption, and capture Personally Identifiable Information (PII) which can then be sold.

Kowalski’s message to users is simple: If you believe that legitimate email isn't getting through to you, contact the administrator at the university, institution or business it should have come from, and ask them to check their system, clean it up, and contact the block list administrators to have their IP address removed from it.

Lab Community Invited to Aug. 2 Summer Interns Science Poster Session

From the photo archive: Members of the Jefferson Lab community talk with summer interns during the 2012 poster session. More than 30 students will show off their work during this year's poster session set for Friday, Aug. 2, from 11:30 a.m.-1:15 p.m. in the CEBAF Center lobby.

Members of the Jefferson Lab community are invited to the 2013 summer interns science poster session on Friday, Aug. 2, from 11:30 a.m. – 1:15 p.m. in the CEBAF Center lobby.

More than 30 high school and college undergraduate interns, who spent their summer doing research and working on projects at the lab, will be showing off the results of their efforts, according to Jan Tyler, Science Education manager.

The students are eager to explain and discuss their work, and answer questions from members of the lab community, she says. “The interns have done outstanding work this summer and are really excited about sharing what they’ve learned. And it is a great way for the lab to show its appreciation for the work done by these students.”

The 22 college students participating in the poster session took part in the Department of Energy's Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program or the National Science Foundation-funded Old Dominion University/Jefferson Lab Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) accelerator and nuclear physics program. Both programs are geared toward undergraduates who are pursuing careers in science or technology.

The 11 High School Summer Honors program interns at the lab this year are rising seniors and college freshmen from Hampton Roads-area high schools.

These internship programs provide opportunities for students to become directly involved in the science culture and activities of a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory. They worked with and were mentored by lab scientists, engineers, technicians and support staff. Their research and work projects ranged from accelerator and nuclear physics science and experimental research to engineering; free-electron laser projects; computer programming; environmental, safety and health; and facilities management.

Lab Director Hugh Montgomery (center) and 10 of the 17 individuals who submitted winning names to the C100 cryomodule naming contest paused for a group photo after the event.

A large number of Jefferson Lab staffers got their first chance to visit the Test Lab Addition on March 12 when they gathered to celebrate the completion of assembly work on the 10 C100 cryomodules being built for CEBAF's 12 GeV Upgrade.

Lab Director Hugh Montgomery and Andrew Hutton, associate director for the Accelerator Operations, Research and Development Division, commented on the importance of this milestone and congratulated the members of the Superconducting Radiofrequency (SRF) working groups and support staff that contributed to the effort.

“This was a great endeavor on the part of our SRF staff,” noted Montgomery.

This was followed by announcing the names of the 10 new cryomodules and recognizing the lab staff who proposed the winning names.

“These words speak to the character of Jefferson Lab, and describe the spirit, culture and mission of the lab,” Montgomery noted during his remarks. “These words set the tone and expectation for us and our mission with CEBAF at 12 GeV.”

To mark the milestone, members of the SRF working groups and the cryomodule-naming contest winners each received a commemorative C100 T-shirt.

The contest kicked off in October 2012 and concluded with lab-wide voting in January. Nearly 160 submissions were sent in for consideration. While some submissions entered just one word or name, many of the submissions included 10 or more entries. Some winning names were submitted by more than one employee. A committee, appointed by Montgomery, evaluated and debated more than 450 names before the final selection went to a lab-wide vote.

Standardized name labels have been created for each of the C100 cryomodules as well as for all of the existing cryomodules that had been given names in the past.

The C100 cryomodules have been installed; and check-out of the new cryomodules and their systems is underway. Commissioning of the "new" 12 GeV accelerator will begin later this year.

Virginia STEAM Academy Initiative Launches First Summer Camp

A Summer STEAM 2013 student ambassador works on the Go Far Cars activity where students learned about potential and kinetic energy. Photo courtesy of Virginia STEAM Academy.

Fifty-six middle school students from across the state, four instructors, and a handful of teaching and resident-hall assistants and camp counselors converged on the Old Dominion University campus on July 7 for the first session of Summer STEAM, Virginia STEAM Academy’s summer camp for able and interested middle school students.

The week-long residential camp was an important milestone in the effort to create the Virginia STEAM Academy proposed by Judy Stewart and M. Caroline Martin, co-founders of the STEAM Academy initiative.

STEAM stands for Science Technology Engineering and Applied Mathematics, and the proposed academy would be a public, statewide, four-year residential program intended to be a uniquely challenging experience for high school students with ability and interest in science, technology, engineering and math. It would be a comprehensive, internationally benchmarked program designed to prepare students to enter higher education and then the workplace with the knowledge, leadership and creativity skills needed to excel, according to Stewart and Martin. Nineteen similar public programs are already in place around the nation.

The inaugural middle school summer camp that ran from July 7-13 offered two tracks - Math Reasoning and Encryption, and Physics. More than 400 high-performing students from across the Commonwealth applied for the 56 camp slots.

Through a Memorandum of Understanding agreement that Jefferson Lab signed with the STEAM Academy in 2012, the lab provided support staff and resources to the Physics program.

The goal of the Physics Track experience – designed for rising seventh and eighth grade students – was to nurture the students’ abilities to develop a strong, creative approach to grappling with complex physics concepts, according to Summer STEAM camp literature. To that end, the campers participated in a range of structured, unstructured and applied learning activities.

The Physics Track curriculum and lesson plans were developed and taught by Tonya Bates and Melissa Brichacek, physical science teachers with the Chesapeake City Public Schools system and instructors for the JLab Science Activities for Teachers (JSAT) program.

Each day, the campers learned a new physics concept and then worked through a hands-on activity that integrated the lesson with concepts, information and skills from previous lessons, according to Lisa Surles-Law, JLab Science Education administrator, who provided academic, logistics and administrative support for the Physics Track program.

The campers were encouraged to think and act like scientists and engineers as they worked through their daily lessons and projects. They learned about density by making their own small hot-air balloons. They learned how to measure speed and motion by making a small roller coaster and making and running model-sized cars and balsa-wood gliders. They studied electromagnetism by making and using small electromagnets and magnetic generators, and learned how to use devices like GPS monitors and accelerometers.

This type of environment and the intense curriculum allowed the campers to absorb and compile a lot of scientific knowledge and develop or improve upon important skills. Over the course of the week, through the hands-on activities, they were able to see and experience scientific concepts and how they come together, according to Bates.

“The campers had a great time… They loved coming to class every day and would work to the very end of class with no complaints,” Bates said. “They tackled any task we put before them. The students worked well together in small and large groups and with the teaching staff.

“I feel the week had a positive impact on the students,” Bates continued. “They walked away with the knowledge that they can tackle any situation, that they know they can work well with others when solving problems, and that their ideas are great ideas and are worth being heard.”

“I think this week gave the students a chance to be challenged and appreciated. [It] gave them a chance to use their skills to the fullest ability and spend time with other talented students,” Brichacek commented. “The students were presented with many design challenges and engineering activities to keep them engaged and on task and to allow for multiple paths to success.”

“All of the students were engaged and interested in their tasks, and they seemed to interact with us and their peers in positive ways,” Brichacek observed. “Many students asked to stay at camp for another week, or if they could come back again next year.”

“It was exciting to see this group of like-minded students work together and brainstorm,” Surles-Law noted. “They would be presented with a challenge and they quickly learned how to put all their knowledge on the table. They learned and respected each other’s strengths and learned to depend on and value each other. They worked really well together as a team – toward a goal.”

JLab Mourns Death of Physicist A. Kubarovskiy

Alexey Kubarovskiy
Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Connecticut and Jefferson Lab

Alexey Kubarovskiy, 40, a postdoctoral fellow with the University of Connecticut (UConn) medium energy nuclear physics group, passed away suddenly on July 4. He had been with UConn since January 2013 and had been doing work for UConn and Hall B at Jefferson Lab.

Before joining UConn at Storrs, he had worked as a research staff member at the Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics at Moscow State University and at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).

Kubarovskiy obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at Moscow State University in 1995 and 2000. He was a member of several prominent collaborative research groups, including CLAS at JLab, SVD at Moscow State University, D0 at Fermilab and SPHINX at the Institute for High Energy Physics in Protvino.

His main research interest was in the field of experimental nuclear physics studying the quark sub-structure of the nucleon using multi-GeV electron and photon beams. During his tenure at UConn and RPI, he had made excellent contributions to the 12 GeV energy upgrade project at Jefferson Lab. He will especially be remembered for leading efforts in developing a Ring Imaging Cherenkov Counter – an essential part of the CLAS 12 detector system – and critical to maximizing the physics outcome of the 12 GeV Upgrade in Jefferson Lab’s Hall B, according to UConn Physics Professor Kyungseon Joo.

He had authored, co-authored or participated in writing more than 100 publications, and was considered highly motivated, hardworking, energetic and dedicated. “He possessed the drive necessary to lead the group to see complex projects through to completion,” Joo said.

“We are deeply saddened at our sudden loss of such a promising young collaborator," Joo continued.

He was an outstanding scientist and physicist, said Hall B Leader, Volker Burkert, who spoke at the funeral service held on July 10 at the Weymouth Funeral Home in Newport News.

He had married last fall. Alexey is survived by his widow, Elena; his father, Valery Kubarovsky, a staff scientist with Jefferson Lab’s Experimental Nuclear Physics Division; his mother, Olga; and a younger brother, Andrey.

Engineering Division’s W. Woodworth Retires

Wesley Woodworth, a JLab Engineering Division technician, retired in June. He had been with the lab for 17 years.

Wesley "Woody" Woodworth, a Jefferson Lab Engineering Division Radio Frequency (RF) technician, retired in June. He had been with the lab for 17 years and was a member of the Accelerator Division and in recent years, the Engineering Division.

Friends and co-workers joined Woodworth and Dolly, his wife of 47 years, at a local restaurant on June 10 to thank him and to celebrate his many years of service to the lab.

He began working for the lab (then called the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility) in 1989 as a contract employee; he started out installing RF components for the 4 GeV CEBAF accelerator. He worked on the solid state amplifiers for the RF separators.

“It took a lot of tweaking to get them to work” he said, recalling the days of building the original 4 GeV accelerator.

After that, he tested klystrons and installed the solenoids for the klystrons and installed waveguides.

More recently he helped pull cable for the dis-assembly of the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) in Hall B, and he assisted in installing the solenoids for the new klystrons for the C-100 cryomodules.

Over the years, he was part of the workforce that maintained the 4 GeV machine, helped install components to achieve 6 GeV and maintained the 6 GeV machine – before starting to install components for the 12 GeV Upgrade machine.

“The best part of being here was working with all these brilliant people,” he noted.

The biggest change over the years was the growth of traffic and congestion in the area around the lab, according to Woodworth. “This was small-town America when I first started coming here: pastures, milk cows, a two-lane road.”

As a young man he served in the Navy. After a stint in the military, Woodworth worked in northern Virginia “on the Beltway” before going to work for Northrup at Ft. Eustis repairing helicopter radio systems.

With his new-found free time, he’s considering doing volunteer docent work at a local museum.